Don Ho says he owes his life to stem cell procedure on heart

December 24, 2005

HONOLULU (AP) -- Legendary Hawaiian crooner Don Ho says he could barely walk, let alone sing, and would have been a "goner" without an experimental stem cell procedure on his ailing heart earlier this month in Thailand. Ho, known for his signature tune "Tiny Bubbles," said he hopes to return to the stage soon. "I'm feeling terrific, 100 percent better," Ho told The Associated Press in one of his first interviews since surgery Dec. 6. "I'm ready to go, but I've got to listen to the doctors. "When they say my heart is strong enough to get excited, I'm on." The 75-year-old singer underwent a new treatment that hasn't been approved in the United States. It involves multiplying stem cells taken from his blood and injecting them into his heart in hopes of strengthening it. "It was my last hope," said Ho, who suffers from nonischemic cardiomyopathy -- a weakened heart muscle not due to blockages in the coronary arteries. The experimental procedure he underwent was developed by TheraVitae Co., which has offices in Thailand and laboratories in Israel, where Ho's stem cells were sent to be multiplied.